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by David Dobson (Author)
Emigration from Ireland to the Americas can be said to have started in earnest during the early eighteenth century. In 1718, the first successful emigration from Ireland to New England took place, laying the foundation for the large-scale settlement of colonial America by the "Scotch-Irish." While details on emigrants of the 18th century are difficult to locate, emigration lists from the late 18th century, such as the Register of Emigrants maintained in Great Britain between 1773 and 1775, have survived. The work at hand, a consolidated reprint of three pamphlets by Mr. David Dobson, endeavors to shed light on some 1,000 Irish men and women and their families who emigrated to North America between roughly 1775 and 1825. Part 1, which is based on the Register of Emigrants, lists a number of former soldiers, among others, who were encouraged by the British government to settle in Canada after the Napoleonic Wars. Part 2, based on source material located in Ireland, Scotland, England, and North America, consists mostly of Irish men and women who settled in Canada, North Carolina, and the Virgin Islands. The third list of emigrants, also based on British and North American records, is more evenly distributed throughout the colonies. Each of the three groupings is arranged alphabetically by the emigrant's surname and, in the majority of cases, provides us with most of the following particulars: name, date of birth, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for emigration, sometimes place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, number of persons in the household, and the source of the information.
